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| Africa North |
| Bulgaria nurses deal may be near |
| 2007-06-02 |
| SIRTE, Libya - A deal to solve the case of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death for deliberately infecting Libyan children with HIV may be close, a spokesman for the children’s families said on Friday. The six foreign medics were convicted in December of deliberately infecting 426 children with HIV in a highly politicised trial that has hampered Libyan attempts to restore full relations with the West. “We might reach an agreement on the Bulgarian nurses and the infected children before June 21,” Driss Lagha, chairman of the Association for the Families of the HIV-infected Children, told Reuters. “In the event of reaching a settlement it will be presented to the High Judicial Council for approval and for the council to take the necessary measures regarding it,” he added. The medics say they are innocent and were tortured to make them confess, and the United States and the European Union have stepped up pressure on Tripoli to release them. Libya has suggested it can free the nurses if an agreement is reached to pay compensation to the families of the children. The six have appealed to the Supreme Court against their conviction but no date has been set for a hearing. If the court dismissed the appeal, the High Judicial Council would still examine the case, Libyan government officials have said. |
| Posted by:Steve White |